The countdown to the end of the Graduated Protection Service (Stg) has officially begun. On 31 March 2027, the transitional regime for micro-enterprises, SMEs and non-vulnerable domestic customers who have not yet chosen the free market will definitively end. To accompany consumers towards this deadline, Arera has started sending the first information communications directly on the bill, inaugurating a tight calendar of notices which will end in spring 2027.
The end of gradual protections
From 1 April 2027 the service will no longer be available and will remain only as a service of last resort, reserved for customers without a seller. What happens if you don’t choose a contract on the free market? As explained by Arera in a note, customers who have not chosen a free market offer by 31 March 2027 will automatically switch to the free market offer proposed by their seller, i.e. the one with the lowest estimated annual expenditure among the proposals available in December 2026. The transition will take place without interruptions to the supply, without signing a new contract or changing the way in which the bill is received. The economic conditions will be valid for at least 12 months and there are no costs in case of early withdrawal.
The communications calendar
Customers affected by this news will be notified by Arera, which has prepared a tight communications calendar: a first information will arrive between September and November 2026, while a summary communication with the conditions of the selected offer, the summary sheet and the notification of dispatch is expected in December 2026. With the new year, between January and March 2027, a reminder is expected to be sent with the offer code, to be inserted in the Offers portal to simulate the annual expenditure and compare it with that of the other offers on the free market. The complete contractual documentation will be sent by March 31, 2027, it being understood that customers will have the right to request it in advance.
What changes
Vulnerable customers who do not choose a free market offer will automatically switch to the enhanced protection service from 1 April 2027. Anyone who has not already been identified as vulnerable by their seller can declare this by completing the form attached to the bills sent from September 2026, while those who already are will receive a specific communication on their bill. The list of enhanced protection operators can be consulted on the Arera website.
The best offer
An often complicated step for customers is choosing the best offer. As specified by the Authority, choosing a contract on the free market is possible at any time, it is free, does not require replacement of the meter and does not involve interruptions. To compare the offers, two pieces of data reported on the bill are enough: the annual consumption (kWh) and the power used (kW).
To facilitate the comparison, Arera has also made the Offers portal available to customers, a free site where it is possible to enter their data – from the Municipality to the type of offer, up to the annual consumption – to obtain the offers sorted based on the estimate of the personalized annual expenditure. The tool also allows you to compare the offer received from your Stg seller with other offers on the free market, to evaluate whether it is really the most suitable for your needs. Furthermore, by accessing the Consumption portal with Spid or Cie, you can consult your history.
The technical data sheet
Before signing any contract, the seller has the obligation to deliver the summary sheet, the document containing the contractual conditions and the estimate of the annual expenditure. Inside this sheet, a specific table clarifies the fees established by the supplier. In the case of offers for domestic customers, the only two elements that differentiate the proposals and allow a real comparison between the various sellers are the fixed annual quota, expressed in euros/year, and the variable quota, linked to consumption and expressed in euros/kWh.
Extension hypothesis
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security is evaluating the introduction of measures “aimed at extending until 31 December 2027 the conditions currently provided for by the Gradual Protection Service, whose expiry is set at 31 March 2027, for the benefit of micro-enterprises, SMEs and domestic customers”. The Mase, as specified in a note published on its website, is thinking about various options: “The evaluation takes place in light of the current international context, characterized by persistent instability in energy prices. Among the hypotheses under study is the possibility that, from 1 April to 31 December 2027, in the absence of a choice of an offer on the free market, the supplier of the Gradual Protection Service continues to apply to non-vulnerable domestic customers the current commercial supply conditions or, if more advantageous, the conditions of the best offer practiced by the same supplier to the same customers”.